


Counting Bodies, Counting Chances

by roboticscreen



Series: 2019 Sorta-Secret Santa [1]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Gen, Moral Dilemmas, brief descriptions of battlefields
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:54:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22888753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roboticscreen/pseuds/roboticscreen
Summary: Sanctuary reflects on a moral dilemma: what do you do when you’ve pledged to help as many as you can with no thought to who they are, but the one that needs saving is a Major General of the Decepticon Army?
Series: 2019 Sorta-Secret Santa [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1645282
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Counting Bodies, Counting Chances

Every so often, I find myself thinking of Flux of Lower Crestover. I suppose it wasn’t really all that long ago that I met her, but it feels like an eternity. So much has changed since then, but not her, from what I’ve heard. And perhaps it’s because of that, but I still don’t regret the choice I made.

My crew and I—it was just the three of us back then, just Venturefar, Flinch, and me—found her on what had once been a battlefield. By the time we arrived, it was becoming a graveyard, littered with the greying frames of the dead and the dying. Venturefar was more than a capable pilot even back then, and under his careful guidance our ship skimmed over the planet’s surface. There had been a slaughter, and the bright red and purple badges stood out against grey bodies painted with energon. Venturefar found a clear patch and brought us down.

We’d gotten there too late for most of them to need our help or hear any kind of last rites, but there were still a small handful of spark signatures blinking bright on our sensors; they were why I’d asked Venturefar to land. Two more winked out before we could reach them. I found one of them still warm, with a matrix symbol on their right cheek. It was rare to see in those days and I remember wondering why the mech had kept it on. I wondered why I did.

I hadn’t realized I was reciting a funerary prayer until I heard Flinch and Venturefar echo the final line behind me: “And in this way we are all connected.”

They both reached down to help me back to my feet, and as I took their hands, Flinch glanced down at the sensor he held in his other claw. “There’s still one more signature.” 

We set off towards it in silence. We were all accustomed to seeing the wreckage left behind by the war, but it never really did get easier to see it. It wasn’t our war—we all deliberately hadn’t chosen a side—but we were still inextricably involved.

Eventually we found the source of the signal. It was a massive mech, lying face-up in the dirt. Her badge was obscured by grime, but I recognized her anyway: Major General Flux of the Decepticon Army. She and her battalion were responsible for the carnage that surrounded us. She’d helped start the war—had rightfully protested the Senate’s actions alongside Megatron and later been involved in their assassinations. She was in part responsible for the ensuing bloodshed. But right then, she was unconscious. She’d been left behind like the rest of them, to lay among the dying until she herself was dead. 

I dropped to my knees in the mud next to her. I remember my hands were shaking as I pulled out a medical scanner.

“Sanct,” Venturefar questioned, “what are you doing?”

“Whatever I can,” I replied.

“You know who this is, right?”

I paused. “Yes, of course I do. Still, I…”

We’d never discussed what we might do in a situation like this, though I suspect we’d all thought about it. By traveling with me on the  _ Second Chance, _ Flinch and Venturefar had agreed to help me help as many mechs as we could on either side. We’d agreed it was the right thing to do. But this… this was new territory. 

Venturefar looked over his shoulder. “We should leave. No one knows we’re here, we don’t have to do this.” He glanced back to Flinch. “You want to weigh in on this?”

Flinch’s single optic passed over us and the Decepticon on the ground in turn. “There’s a chance she’ll die if we leave. But at the same time…” He shrugged. “I’ve heard she’s outspoken. Tries to reign him in.”

“Doesn’t seem like it’s worked so far,” Venturefar muttered. “So, you think we should stay, is that it?”

“I don’t know.” Flinch looked back to me. “It’s your call.”

I vented heavily and reached for the scanner again. “I have to do something. Venturefar, you don’t have to be involved in this. Take the ship and leave with Flinch, and I’ll comm you when it’s safe to return.”

Venturefar shot me one of his looks. “Absolutely not. I don’t like the idea of staying, but I hate the idea of you alone out here more. If you’re staying, so am I. Flinch?”

Flinch dropped down next to me. “If we’re going to do this, we should hurry.”

As the two of us worked, Venturefar took up a small patrol circuit around us, staying always within calling distance. After a long stretch of silence, Flinch looked back up at me. “Can I ask you a question?”

I nodded.

“Why did you stay? 

I had known he would ask, I’d just hoped he’d have asked once I was actually sure of the answer.

“I don’t know,” I answered. “But… it felt like the right thing to do.”

“Vent disagrees.” He wasn’t trying to start anything; he was simply searching for answers, trying to determine where we all stood.

“I know. And in the end, he’ll probably end up having made the right decision.” I glanced down at the Decepticon under our hands. She looked almost peaceful, like she wasn’t unconscious but recharging. “She’s always tried to do the right thing. And I…”

“And there’s a reason you call your ship the  _ Second Chance, _ isn’t there?” he guessed.

“Something like that. It might be wishful thinking, but… it’s still something.”

Below us, Flux let out a soft groan and tried to push herself up. Flinch steadied her and pressed her back down, careful of his claws against her plating. Venturefar rushed back with someone’s discarded blaster in his hands, aimed at the back of her head.

“Easy, Venture. Stand down,” I murmured. “Flux?” I clicked my fingers near her helm, watching for a response. “Flux, can you hear me?”

“Who—who are you?” She tried to sit up again and this time, Flinch let her. “Where I am? Where’s my squad?”

“You’re on the planet Resus IV, not far from Cybertron. I am Sanctuary of Yuss. My crew and I were in the area when we detected a spark signature. I don’t know what happened, but you were offline when we found you. As for your squad…” I sighed. This was always the hardest part to say. “I’m sorry, but yours was the only signature we found.”

“No one else survived?”

“It doesn’t seem like it.”

We sat for a moment in silence, broken only by a soft occasional sniff. I laid my hand against her arm.

“This planet is inhospitable at night.” I looked up at Venturefar, who sighed and nodded, and turned back to Flux. “Come with us, back to our ship. You can rest there safely for a time and we can drop you somewhere once you’re well.”

“I can’t ask you to do that,” she protested.

Flinch laughed softly. “You’re not the one asking. He is.”

“And he’s quite sure about it,” Venturefar added. “We… we all are.”

I stood and held out a hand as my partners moved to join me. “Will you come with us?”

Flux took my hand.

**Author's Note:**

> Sanctuary, Flinch, and Venturefar are all mine; Flux belongs to [Cranky_Tanky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cranky_Tanky). Thanks for letting me borrow her!


End file.
